Hansen sees two sides to Rielly check

Jannik Hansen knows pain. The Vancouver Canucks’ winger has had a broken collarbone and the injury he suffered Nov. 5 in Toronto on a heavy and somewhat questionable centre-ice check from Morgan Rielly — a rib fracture between the cartilage and sternum — became urban legend for what he did right after the blow.

Hansen took issue with Nazem Kadri’s targeted hit from behind that dropped Daniel Sedin. He bolted to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ centre and started throwing punches. Even with an injury. What was he thinking?

“I had no problem with range of motion or pain when I was skating up the ice,” said Hansen, who returned Sunday after missing 16 games. “That didn’t come until 40 minutes after the game. When you get shoulder injuries that are along the line of stingers, you can play for a while before your arm gets weaker and it starts to hurt more.

“I’ve broken my collarbone and there’s no way you’re fighting with that, because you’re just trying to make it to the dressing room. I thought I was going to play in New York (Nov. 8), but on the plane, it (the rib) progressively got worse and the next morning I knew something was wrong.”

As for the Rielly hit, Hansen sees two sides.

“It wasn’t in the head and if it’s not late, it’s not illegal or whatever you want to say,” he said. “But it’s tough to judge. The end result was not good and it’s one of those hits that you think was a little bit too hard.

“But it’s tough to take hitting out of the game.”